An update on the famliy project

All is well with the family. As they have no income, we still support them with food, as well as guiding and practical support. Our goal is to help them find a way to provide for thelmselves. We have taken a few important steps towards this in the past few weeks- and there are other news as well.

The mother and some of her children on this years Mela.

One important step is to make sure the children are not illiterate. We did find a job for the oldest son, Prakash*, this winter, but had to turn it down beause he did not know how to read, and basic reading was important for the job. Ganpati Norway started literacy classes on the 24th of April 2017, and all of the children attend for now. The mother in the family initially said she wanted to join to, but in the end she is to shy to participate - which is understandable at her age. She always sits nearby though, and she might still learn something from the class. The classes are held in the family house, but there are students outside the family too. The classes are held late afternoon, 4 times a week.

Literacy class!

The oldest son, Prakash*, is learning how to drive a rickshaw from a friend (for free - and by his own initiative). We insist on him taking the literacy class as well, as he is illiterate. The oldes daugher, Roshni*, as been busy with something else for a while, but is now back in sewing class (which is in the morning it does not clash with the literacy class). One of the boys, Raju*, has been in Vio's english class until now. He has switched to Ganpati's literacy class for now since he also needs to work on reading and writing in hindi He continue learning english at a later point.

The family only pays 300rs for electricity a month (since they are poor), and they have managed this on their own til now. They have now fallen a bit behind, and we have decided to cover the electricity bill within our budget.

The toilet is finished!! Vio and Vijay informed the family about the Rural Toilet Fund Allocation. The family applied and got 12 000rs to build their toilet. This is a good example of how important Vio and Vijay from Friends in Khajuraho are to our work. Thanks to information provided by them, the family could improve their living conditions without relying on us to fund it!



The family has always been poor, and since Aryan*(the father) died in 2014 they have had no real income. They have not been able to get new household supplies - or maintain/repair the ones they got. Once a year there is a marked ("Mela") where families go to have fun and get cheap households supplies. This year the family was able to attend for the first time since Aryan's' death, and they did some much needed shopping together with Vijay. They have also gotten three new plastic chairs from us. There are still things the family needs, and things they have that are broken. One of the two fans they have is broken, and they are both to small for the house. We have helped them build an extension on the house  (the extension still needs a roof). The extension was necessary as their house was just one room for the whole family, and as their cooking area was outside (which is very impractical in the rainy season). The new walls block the air which makes the house too hot during the summer, so the family could really do with an aircooler  Their charpoy is also broken, and we still need to repair their old bike and get locks for their bike (the waterpump near their house has dired out so they need to go further to get water). We will try to solve(at least some of) these issues within the exsisting budget, involving the family in budgeting and making priorities/long term plans. This is also a useful skill for the family to learn.

For more information on our work  - visit our webpage 

The youngest boy in the family hard at work in literacy class

inside the new toilet